None of the main players in this conflict came across as wholly good or evil. Lyla may be doing what she feels is best for her country, but that’s always a slippery slope to walk. But at the same time, Helix has a legitimate grievance against ARGUS for detaining their friend without due process. Alena had no problem killing an ARGUS agent to get what she wanted. Clearly, Helix is not a noble, selfless organization. One area this episode did succeed was its emphasis on moral relativity. But again, that’s perhaps more a complaint with the season as a whole as this episode in particular. Her break from Team Arrow didn’t pack quite the emotional punch it should have. Yes, we know that her obsession with bringing down Prometheus has as much to do with the murder of her boyfriend Billy as anything else, but the show never did enough to flesh out Billy while he was alive or focus on Felicity’s grief in the aftermath of his death.
I do think this season has failed a bit in terms of emphasizing the reasons for Felicity’s descent into darkness. Now it was Felicity’s turn to do the same.
So many times on this series we’ve seen Ollie go against the grain and risk his safety or freedom or good standing to do what he feels is right. “Dangerous Liaisons” served as a good culmination of the ongoing Helix subplot. In general, this season has been pretty good about giving Emily Bett Rickards more interesting material to work with and defining Felicity as a character outside the context of her relationships to men like Ollie and Ray Palmer. She can be an obnoxious character, and I’ve had my fill of the Olicity romance at this point, but she still has her moments.
Personally, I’m neither pro nor anti-Felicity. This episode did sort of feel like a pit stop along the road to a more pivotal endpoint, but a necessary one all the same. That conflict finally came to a head here, as Felicity found herself directly opposed to Ollie and the rest of Team Arrow. It was only a matter of time before Felicity found herself forced to choose between her conscience and gaining the tools to finally bring Chase to justice. From there, the focus shifted to Felicity’s increasingly dangerous alliance with the hackers of Helix.
Plus, I love that Chase took the time to program himself into one of the games. It’s good to know that Curtis, at least, has his priorities in order in attempting to protect those valuable, vintage arcade cabinets. The arcade scene was also helpful in providing about the only moment of humor in the entire episode. At this point, you have to wonder if having his identity leaked wasn’t just one more piece in his carefully orchestrated master plan. The fact that Chase was able to bobby trap an arcade center shows that he’s still able to stay a few steps ahead of Team Arrow and the SCPD even after being outed. Though Chase never appeared in the flesh this week (always a negative, as far as I’m concerned), he did make for a memorable unseen enemy in the opening sequence. How well that went over depends mostly on whether viewers fall into the pro or anti-Felicity camp. The show had some unfinished business to resolve in terms of Felicity’s ongoing storyline.
Right away, it was made clear that while Adrian Chase may be on the defensive, he’s no less dangerous or crafty an opponent. Arrow returned tonight for the final stretch of Season 5 tonight.